Members of the media have been too easy on the Republican push to ban gay marriage. Yes, it may be all about politics, but does that mean society shouldn’t react harshly to the attempt to codify discrimination in our Constitution?

“We remember that many Americans have lost their limbs or their lives in on-the-job accidents that might have been prevented if overall media coverage had been anywhere near as transfixed with job safety as with, say, marital splits among Hollywood celebrities.”

Norman Solomon has appeared as a guest on hundreds of media outlets including the PBS “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” CNN’s “Crossfire” and “TalkBack Live,” MSNBC, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, public radio’s “Marketplace,” and NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Talk of the Nation.”

Solomon’s op-ed articles have appeared in many newspapers including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, New York Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun. His articles have also appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Canada’s Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star.

In 1997 Solomon co-authored “Wizards of Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream News.” A review in the Nation magazine said: “One of the great values of this book is that it demolishes the myth that liberalism dominates the media. ... This nifty, easily digestible compendium ought to be used in high school and college courses to help the young learn how to be discriminating news consumers.”

Solomon co-wrote “Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media,” published in 1990. A review in the Washington Post concluded that the book “makes a worthy addition to the library of any student of American news media, social structure and political science.” Kirkus Reviews said that the book provides “an extensive record of recent media distortions.” Publishers Weekly said that Solomon and co-author Martin A. Lee “make a compelling case for the contention that newsmen and women distort current events.” The San Francisco Chronicle reviewer wrote: “Their command of information is matched by committed, eloquent writing that plumbs the psychological and political complexities of mass-mediated experience.” Utne Reader called the book “an essential text.” USA Today columnist Barbara Reynolds described it as “a thinking person’s book.”

Solomon’s 1995 book “Through the Media Looking Glass” (co-authored with Jeff Cohen) drew praise from Booklist, which called it “a lively counterpoint to the dominant conservative critique of the ‘liberal’ media.” A review in the Los Angeles Times declared: “The bold, muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary journalism.”

Norman Solomon is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national consortium of public-policy researchers seeking to widen the range of media discourse in the United States. He is a longtime associate of the media watch group FAIR.